Obstructive sleep apnea occurs in 10% of men and 4% of women and causes disability and death. Treatment is tolerated by only 80% of patients at best and is awkward and inconvenient. Studies have shown that obese patients with sleep apnea have large pharyngeal fat pads lateral to their upper airway and that their airway is narrowed in the lateral axis. We propose to remove the lateral pharyngeal fat pad in obese patients with sleep apnea using an intraoral approach similar that used for a tonsillectomy.